Even women are capable to kill. But there’s no need to stop loving them, though. Dying for love (mourir d’aimer) is an amazing thing to do. Trust those who experienced this emotion. In heaven i’ll kill those fool ones who imposed that kind of fake health terrorism that labels cigars’ packages when I find them. It’s ok for cigarettes because they are wrapped in paper. It’s ok for Avanas (or Habanas) which look always the same (the ones that belong to the same brand and type, obviously). It’s ok for Brissagos, the ones described by the italian poet Eugenio Montale in a very sad poem called Parole (Words). What about Davidoffs? Nevermind. Anyway Toscano didn’t deserve that kind of outrage. Toscano is various, versatile, it is influenced by the surrounding air and it reproduces the flavour of time. It’s enough.

This year we are going to celebrate the bicentenary of cigar. God forgot to create it on a late Friday night. The day after was His day off. On Sunday he forgot about it because He was so busy among all those beautiful things he had created before. So in 1815 – Lord, for you a thousand years look like our yesterday, like an a watchover night – the psalmist says. Where Psalm 89 – He send a rainfall pouring on the lying drying tobacco and voilà: Toscano was born. On the 8th day, as the American playwright and novelist Thornton Wilder used to explain.

Want to know more about this wonders of God’s creation? Click here: it is the report of an exhibition in Rome in 2011, now it can be visited on a book. Or click here for the technical info.

We invited some random friends and admirers to celebrate it:

• Giuseppe Verdi, fine musician.
• Giacomo Puccini, a musician too, but of a different kind. To us he is guilty for smoking cigarettes as well. But we’ll forgive him for the occasion.
• Pietro Mascagni, famous author of Cavalleria Rusticana. A musician too, just saying.
• Arturo Toscanini, the greatest among conductors of all time.(in our opinion, obviously. Other people are allowed to think whatever they want to).
• Luciano Berio… wait… are they all musicians? No, they aren’t. But he’s one of the greatest composers of XXth Century. Not everybody like him, but this doesn’t mean he’s one of the greatest.
• And then Tommaso Salvini, the great tenor who died in 1915 who smoked Toscano claiming they were healthy for his throat. Maybe he dreamt about becoming Tom Waits, if the chronology had given him the chance.

Here are some of Italian politicians:

• Giuseppe Garibaldi, notorious terrorist, wanted worldwide and then Senator of the Italian Reign. He died of old age in Caprera.
• Rocco Buttiglione, philosopher, politician. Every now and then he is spotted on TV.
• Fausto Bertinotti, politician, as well, but not philosopher. He is missing in action after being defeated at elections, some years ago. According to his wife he loves reading saint Paul’s letters… even if he cannot be considered as a catholic, because of his communism.
• Umberto Bossi (Senatùr, which is the Italian dialect from Lombardy for Senator), friend of Silvio Berlusconi, founder of the Italian party Lega Lombarda (which claimed the secession in Italy between North and South), inventor of celodurismo (a kind of philosophy which glorifies having a hard cock, in order to appear strong and capable), father of Renzo Bossi (a notorious idiot, very famous in Italy.. his nickname is il Trota… Trout, cause fishes apparently are not very smart).
• Pier Luigi Bersani, a very smart and skilled politician, president of Regione Emilia-Romagna from 1993 to 1996, Democratic Party secretary and much more.

Among artists, but not musicians:

• the first guest is Amedeo Modigliani: a cigar was nominated after him, Toscano Modigliani.
• Carlo Levi, painter and writer. Among his books: Christ Stopped at Eboli, La doppia notte dei tigli, Le parole sono pietre, The ancient heart of future.
• Mario Soldati, writer, film director and author of memorable Italian TV shows (back at the time of a newborn tv), father in law of famous Italian actress and sex symbol Stefania Sandrelli, creator of Toscano Garibaldi. Doctors prevented him from smoking so he created a complicated pump device which permitted him to smell the flavour of a lit cigar. They didn’t inform him that passive smoking is as damaging as active smoking.
• Georg Grosz, German painter and designer (an excellent one). He became American and he went back to Berlin to die. At 65 years old. He was so drunk that he confused the door leading to his basement with the front door. He fell off the stairs and he died. Obviously German stairs don’t have the sign: attention, the stair is going kill you.
• Federico Zeri. What about him? He knows everything about Arts. Then Vittorio Sgarbi came along (one of the most famous art critics of Italy, especially on TV).
• Carlo Bo, literature critic and academic. Dean of Libera Università in Urbino for many years. Grouchy character: Giovanni Papini ( a writer, as grouchy as Bo) once said that his talent was shorter than his surname. It was all about envy.

We are not going to talk about journalists.

• Except Gianni Brera. A great sport journalist and soccer expert. He invented many words, like abatini, to describe those players who played elegantly.
• And Giuliano Ferrara, a very controversial character. But we want to mention him because he’s very big and his beard reminds the one portrayed on Garibaldi Cigars label.

Cinema.
Nowadays Clint Eastwood’s cigar in A Fistful of Dollars is the most famous Toscano. Here you’ll find a gallery of other famous Toscanos, included The Prince of Salina – Burt Lancaster’s Gattopardo – and Totò in La banda degli onesti in the scene showing him buying a cigar to get rid of a fake banknote. Here you’ll see him in another movie, because he doesn’t smoke in the previously mentioned one. You’ll find a picture of Alberto Lattuada lighting up half a cigar and a non identified lady. Women smoke Toscano as well. Lately the singer Nada Malanima (previously known as Nada) converted to this religion (when she was younger actually).

Here you’ll find a gallery of common people over the last years. Amazing.

We couldn’t close this gallery without mentioning don Luigi Giussani, great estimator of Toscano and brave fighter against the terrorist warnings on the boxes. And what about Don Gallo (a famous communist priest of the street who helped the broken ones in his long life)? He’s part of the gallery as well.

We need to mention a poem (probably surrealist) that turned into a nursery rhyme:

The little boat on the sea
leading to Santa Fè
to load half a kilo of coffee
The captain has a red and blue beard
He comes from Perù
And he smokes a Toscano

Source: Bergamopost